Ownership
8:28 a.m.
Things we have had to do to the house we bought in August, the house we foolishly told ourselves would need little to no work:
a) install a shower
b) rip up moldy carpet
c) clean walls of basement with bleach to kill mold (hopefully!)
d) repair broken toilet (broke first night we moved in)
e) snake the clogged kitchen piping
f) clean up a flooded basement
g) fill cracks in basement walls to prevent leaks
h) put together sump pump pipes that had come apart via kicking (that's what they told us, someone had kicked the piping between the time we looked at the house and the time we moved in)
i) air conditioning (granted, all that needed to be done was flip a random light switch, but...it took a long time to figure that out, and it was nearly 100 degrees that day)
Things that we did that don't count as "fixing" unless you count improvements for mental peace:
a) painted the basement, kitchen, living room, bathroom
Things that we were told were new, but I discovered yesterday were actually "new" in "1999" when it is now "2007:"
a) sump pump
Things that still need to be fixed:
a) clogged drains in basement sinks, and I am scared of them because surely monsters live in there
b) incredibly sketchy electrical wiring
c) the serious leaky places in the basement, that will require ripping out closets
d) broken tiles in the den
e) two bedroom doors that won't shut
f) back door to the house that pleasantly gets stuck constantly
g) more mold I saw yesterday
h) the hole in the kitchen wall that was cut to put in a light fixture, then plugged with old Styrofoam, and hidden with a clock
i) shaky step on the decking
j) probably the foundation
Things that died this weekend:
a) J's laptop, which is not house related but is really frustrating, as he has had it for six months
Things that died yesterday:
a) the washer that is so old Maytag doesn't even have its model number on file (it's going to be fun finding the necessary belt for it. I'm SO. EXCITED.)
Number of loads of sopping wet, still soapy laundry that I pulled from broken washer:
a) one
Number of times I announced that I was going to pull apart the washer and take a look, regardless that I had no idea how:
a) one
Ratio of flat head to Phillips screwdrivers I found, when I needed a damn Phillips:
a) 12-1
Time spent looking at washers online, panicked:
a) 10 minutes
Time spent realizing we had closed off the only entrance a washer would fit through to get into the utility room (there were four or five doors cut into all the paneling, we blocked most of them off)
a) 11 minutes
Time spent looking at the washer in confusion before spotting the broken belt underneath with a flashlight:
a) I don't know
In other news, isn't this neat?
Neat!
black sheeped
posted by Black Sheeped @ 8:27 AM
6 Comments:
Isn't home ownership great. We've been in our house for 6 years now, and the list comes and goes. It's ever rotating.
P.S. I love your new profile photo!
In Washington our purchase and sale agreements include a clause that premises must be maintained as you saw them, which means the sump pump pipes, their responsibility. I would call your Realtor, that is part of their job and seller's responsbilities.
Oh man, that sucks for you but makes me feel slightly better about the money-suck that is renting. On the plus side, this post was brilliantly organized and made me laugh. And also, your house is gorgeous, so that should help make it easier to deal with all these issues.
Craig's List- look there for a "new" washer. A friend just bought one on there for $40 and it was 3 years old (I've never owned one less than 20 years old!). The people were "remodeling" their laundry room and wanted fancier appliances.
I too am sinking in home related tasks. Overwhelming!!
Home repair/maintenance is my least favorite way to spent my time. Hang in there!
The shared space information IS SO FANTASTIC THAT I AM HOPPING UP AND DOWN AND DOING CARTWHEELS. MANY, MANY CARTWHEELS.
This shit is so interesting -- you have successfully gotten me re-interested in my thesis about public space.
Do you know how much you kick ass?!?!
How did you run across the shared space info?
Wow - I am a NERD.
1) Shared space thing is SO NEAT!
2) I hate moving. I used to work in a real estate office, and even BRAND-NEW CONSTRUCTION (possibly ESPECIALLY brand-new construction) has about that length a list of problems that have to be solved by the new owners. The new owners often call the real estate office, pissed. (My job was answering the phones.)
3) We've lived in our house for years now, and still haven't finished our initial bare-minimum move-in list.
4) We did, however, tear out the astonishingly revolting carpet.
5) And replaced the washing machine and dryer, both of which pooped out within months. It also turned out that the washing machine was set up to DRAIN INTO THE BACKYARD. YAY! So that had to be fixed.
6) Are they implying that YOU kicked the sump pump? Like, just to get them to pay money for the fun of it?
7) We still haven't fixed our wiring. Occasionally a socket sparks and smokes. This could--theoretically--burn down the house. But we're SO PISSED, because we had an electrician okay the wiring before we signed the purchase agreement. And he okayed it. And he was wrong. And we're too wimpy to do anything about that. Which makes us even angrier. So we can't do anything about the wiring.
8) We love the house, though, and the initial panic wore off over time. I think part of it was the general panic of home ownership after renting ("WE have to fix this??"), and part of it is the secret fear that the purchase was a Huge Mistake.
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